Electrical signal apparatus



' (No Model.)

J. R. DE MIER.

ELECTRICAL SIGNAL APPARATUS.

Patented Apr. 3.1888. Fig/.

IIIIIIIII Witnesses: 2"

N. PETERS. mwmu m xm, Wmhinglum D. c.

.UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN RICHARD DE MIER, OF LAS CRUCES, TERRITORY OF NE MEXICO, ASSIGNOR, BY MESN E ASSIGNMENTS, TO THE DE MIER ELECTRIC TRAIN SIGNAL COMPANY.

ELECTRICAL SIGNAL APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 380,646, dated April 3, 1888.

Application filed June 9, 1887. Serial No. 240,779. (No model.)

To all whom) it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN RICHARD DE MIER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Las Cruces, in the county of Dona Afia, Territory of New Mexico, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electrical Signal Apparatus; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable [c others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

1 5 My invention relates to an electric apparatus for giving special signals to the engineer or other officials in charge of a railroad-train.

The object of my invention is to give automatically or by accident, and purposely by hand, signals which are different from common signals used on a running train, and are of a distinct meaning, such as a derailed truck, a broken axle or wheel, an express or baggage car burglariously entered,

2 and other similar messages.

The drawings illustrating my invention consist of Figure 1, representing a vertical longitudinal section of an express-car body with trucks in elevation having my invention ap- 3o plied to it; Fig. 2, representing a sectional portion of acar-body and an elevation of a truck; Fig. 3, representing a vertical section of my signaling apparatus, on an enlarged scale, showing the inner mechanism in eleva- 3 5 tion; and Fig. 4, representing a cross section of the said apparatus, the inner mechanism being shown in elevation.

The letter A in the drawings represents an expresscar, B the end portion of a railroadcar, and O my improved signaling apparatus.

My improved signaling apparatus is intended for a train which is already provided with the ordinary battery, electric gong, and line-wires, as known and used, and it will be 5 interposed wherever desirable, and connected,

by means of branch wires X X, to the linewires X X of an open circuit, the said apparatus closing the circuit by means of a conducting contact-wheel and contact-spring withoutinterfering with the ordinary signal service of the train, as will be seen.

In Fig. 3 an ordinary clock-train is shown inclosed in a stout housing, 0, consisting of an ordinary frame, d, to which the several arbors of the mechanism are hung, main arbor D, main wheel 01, spring d", and circuitbreaking c0ntact-wheel E. The main wheel at gears into a pinion, d, on arbor D, to which latter an escape-wheel, (1 is fastened. This wheel d operates an escape-lever, d,with a regulatingweight, (2 a set-screw, d in said weight establishing its adj ustability upon the arm d, for the purpose of adjusting the speed of the escape. I find this escape vastly superior to the ordinary fan-wheel escape, inasmuch as it will always start immediately, while with the fanwheel some time is lost in overcoming the inertia of the wheel and its intermediate mechanism,which delay, short as it may appear, is apt to cause disaster.

The arbor d of the escape-lever d is provided with an arm, at, which is in range with the hooked end portion, 6, of a check'spring, E, suitably fastened to the frame cl. This spring E is held by its tension away from the arm 01, and thus allows the mechanism to run and give the alarm, as will be seen. The contact-wheel E of the positive line of the traincircuit is suitably fastened to the main arbor D, and thus is operated by the full force of the mainspring (P. It is provided with contact-lugs e, placed at intervals suited to the character of the signal to be given thereby. These contact-lugs are in range with a contactspring, F, of the negative line of the train circuit, so that they in succession come in contact with said spring and close the traincircuit as often as one of the lugs meets the spring, and at intervals answering the several various distances of said lugs. I choose to use one of the fastening-screws c of the frame d as a binding-screw of the positive wire K, and the fastening-screwfof the contact-spring F as the binding-screw of the negative wire X, or vice versa, and thus the whole clock mechanism 5 forms part of the circuit and no intermediate conductors are necessary. The check-spring E is held toward the frame at by a noncon- 2 ceases ducting plug, G, so that its hooked end portion, 6, holds the arm (1 of the escape in such position as to prevent the escape-wheel d from operating it. This plug G is inserted in a metallic cap, 9, with which it is inserted into a tubular projection, c, of the housing 0, out of which it is pulled by a cord or chain, 0 in order to set the alarm going, as-already described. This apparatusG may be applied to the inner wall of a car, and the plug will be operated by a pull-rope, c, fastened to both inner ends of the car, on a free pending rope located near a safe, a, of an express-room in a car, in order to facilitate the giving of the alarm in case the express-clerk should be surprised while at the open safe by concealed burglars.

To the end of each car an apparatus, 0, is fastened below the car, as seen in Fig. 2, and the plug G is connected to the truck by means of a sagging cord or chain, which becomes straightened and pulls the plug out, releases the alarm mechanism from the check 6, and allows it to start whenever by any of the above-mentioned accidents the motions of the truck become extraordinary and dangerous to the car. The signal is then given before the truck is smashed or quite derailed, and the train can in most cases be stopped in good time to prevent a disaster.

Alarms may be provided in express cars, postal-cars, on car-sills, or on the doors of sealed freight-cars, and each class of alarm may be provided with a contact-wheel, E, having difi'erently-arranged contact-lugs 6', so as to give each a different alarm, whereby the nature and locality of the injury or cause of the alarm is indicated.

It will be seen that the special alarm given by my invention is different from the alarm given in fire-alarm stations, inasmuch as during each contact of one of the contact-lugs e and the contact-spring E the ordinary electric alarm-gong in the engineers cab will give a great number of blows upon the gong in rapid succession, while the fire-alarm gives only one blow on the alarm-bell.

It is to be understood that the circuit-wires are provided, as usual, at each end of the car with separable electric couplings of ordinary construction.

The removal of the plug G by reason of an accident is generally very quick and violent, and may often result in the breakage of the tube 0 or a larger portion of the housing a, to prevent which I provide two opposite sides of the plug with flat curved springs, which by means of their tension against the inner surfaces of the tube 0 hold the plug in position without giving away to the tugs of the cord or chain c and allowing the plug to be pulled out in a direction not conforming to the axis of the tube 0'.

l/Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a railroad signaling apparatus, the

combination of the continuous electric-circuit wires X X, branch wires XflX pendent hand pull-rope c plug G, frame (I, having bindingscrews, and the special alarm 0, comprising in its construction the contact-wheel E, contact-spring F, escape-wheel 1 and escape al and the other ordinary clock-work parts shown, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. The combination of train circuit-Wires X X, having branch wires X X, escape-wheel d escape (Z contact-wheel E, contactspring F, and check-spring E of the signaling apparatus O, the plug G, chain 0 and truck of a car, substantially as and for the purpose described. I

3. The alarm-starting plug G, acting when in position against the check-spring E of the signal apparatus G, and having lateral springs g, for holding it in the housing 0 while in position, substantially as and for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN RICHARD DE MIER.

Witnesses:

R0131. L. FENWIOK, EDWARD T. FENWIOK. 

